The first 50 years of Australia's settlement by the white man was a time of brutality, cruelty, and harshness - not always on the part of the prisoners.
One man, transported for a crime today's world would consider minor, finds that regardless of his crime, regardless of his past, he comes to a time when he discovers some things are worth dying for.

What happens when the law and distance fails its people? An outback murder mystery turned upside down, down under.
When a corrupt Bicentennial official disappears in an outback Australian town, only Kev plays detective. But at what price? Police, petty criminals, activists and ambitious souls, all have their own agendas. Soon everyone pays.

International storyteller Adrian Beckingham, The Man From Story Mountain, has worked with indigenous peoples for over two decades. Enjoy here a rare collection of tales from the firesides, carried across thousands of years of oral tradition, about how our world was made. It tells the beginnings of the first rivers, mountains, forests, valleys, oceans, stars, sun, moon, animals,and people.

Written by Tim Malseed and bushfire expert David Packham, the Paper warns of the risk of extreme bushfire to fellow residents trapped by the Yarra River. The Paper contains 12 recommendations about how the Victorian Government can mitigate that risk.
www.theelthamgateway.com for the pdf version.
The recommendations are heavy on Government leadership, and light on taxpayer funds.

A skillfully woven story that makes the experience of a personal relationship with Jesus understandable for the young people to whom it is addressed, "My Best Mate" is told from the point of view of an eleven-year-old Australian and addresses perennial issues of doubt and faith along with contemporary social issues such as peer pressure and racism. Includes a glossary of Australian expressions.

Although she grew up without speech and problems understanding other people, the author has given us six stories which show how speech patterns enrich narrative. Subjects range from mythical Greece to Australian life in the 1980s and include fictionalised portraits of Lucy herself as a person with autism. Read and enjoy.

Aurealis #59, edited by Michael Pryor, features the startling and exotic world of Emmet O'Cuana's 'Tiresias: A 'blood-punk' fantasy' and Douglas Fry's subtle, challenging 'A Brilliant Fire'. Kate Forstyh delves into the history of fairy tales, our reviewers opine on the latest publications, and the best SF news is yours to contemplate.

A resourceful fourteen year-old, Freya Dunbar accepts responsibilities beyond the norm. Family is paramount. She has no regrets – she’d do anything for Mama, but she frets at being the odd-one-out in every part of her life. Always alert for clues about family mysteries she yearns for a sense of belonging until she meets soul-mate Alexander Marcou. Identity issues matter less then.

A century and one-third after his death, Ned Kelly’s not forgotten, and it’s hard to believe that Australians will ever forget him. In his own lifetime he passed into folklore, as Max Brown makes clear, so where is he now? This is not an easy question, but wherever he is, Max Brown’s book is part of the answer.